June 26, 2010

Last month VoiceAmerica’s radioshow “Your Life is in Your Hands” presented an episode devoted to the palmar creases of the hand. UK hand analyst Lynn Seal was invited to talk with host Kenneth Lagerström about the mysterious ‘lines of the hands’.

During the hour various aspects of the hand lines were discussed, including: the mystery of the ‘palmar flexion creases’, the prenatal development of the (major) hand lines in the early life of the embryo, line variations among ethnic populations, the differences between hand lines in the left and right hand, and how the hand lines can be used for different purposes in palmistry. Lynn explained very well that in time the hand lines can show significant changes; this simple fact might explain why the validity of ‘future predictions based on the hand lines’ are even disputed from within the palmistry community!

Unfortunately the podcast of the show is nog longer available, but Kenneth has pointed out that the recording will become available at HumandHand.com in the near future.

How to understand the major characteristics of the lines in the palm of your hands properly?

In modern palm reading (cheirology) the hand lines are not used for predicting the future; contrary the hand lines are recognized as ‘energy flows’ reflecting process in the body and the brain which related the various aspects of an indvidual, including temperament, personality & and interpersonal functioning.

Contrary to what many believe, the development of the hand lines does not directly relate to the movements of the hands. For example, the three major hand lines (life line, heart line and head line), start developing in the hand of the little embryo in the 2nd month of gestation – while the first hand movements do not occure before the 2nd half of the third month.

Another indication is provided by the fact that usually the ‘passive’ hand (= left hand for righthanded people) shows more hand lines then the ‘active hand’ (= right hand for righthanded people). And often the hands of people who are active in jobs that require a lot of manual work, show less palmar lines than those who are active in jobs that are not featured with the use of the hands (such as social work).

After about 7 weeks the life line starts developing in the hand of the embryo.

Despite the fact that many palmists around the world – especially in Asia – still claim that the lines in the palm or our hands reveal information about our future, the truth is that within the global palm reading community there appears to be a growing number of debaters who actually question the validity of this claim.

While traditional palmistry has merely been a matter of using the hand as an occult ‘tool’ – focussed on making (future) ‘prediction'; in the 20th century modern palm reading became more focussed on the issue of understanding human nature, by studying the psychological- & spiritual life of individuals.

The most frequently asked question is probably: “what do my hand lines reveal?” Interestinly, the answer might actually depend on the person who is faced with this question! For example, a traditional palmist might point to your future, a modern palm reader might point of your brain, and a scientific hand analyst … might point to your genes!

February 2, 2010

The word ‘dermatoglyphics‘ was introduced in 1926 by Harold Cummins – the word refers directly to the study of the patterns & characteristics of the skin ridges in the human hand (and foot). What are the basic characteristics of the dermatoglyphics in the human hand?

FINGERPRINT DERMATOGLYPHICS:

In most populations around the world is the ‘ulnar loop’ the most observed fingerprint pattern (see: the fingerprint of the pinky finger in the picture above). Loops are most frequently found on the little finger (and middle finger); loops are least frequently found on the pointer finger.
In some Asian populations the ‘whorl’ (see: the fingerprint of the ring finger in the picture above) is more common than the ‘ulnar loop’. Whorls are more often seen on the thumb and ring finger.
In population research usually the pointer finger demonstrates more variation than the the other fingers. For example the most common ‘ulnar loop’ is least often seen on the pointer finger, which often exhibits an other pattern such as: the ‘arch’, ‘tented arch’, ‘whorl’ or ‘radial loop’ (see: the pointer finger in the picture above).

PALMAR DERMATOGLYPHICS:

The variations in the dermatoglyphics of the handpalm are much more complex than the variations in the fingerprints. An important element concerns the presence of the ‘palmar triradii’ (see: a, b, c, d, and t in the picture above): normally each finger is featured with a palmar triradius – triradius t belongs to the thumb (the thumb mouse – a.k.a. as the ‘thenar’, or in palmistry: ‘mount of Venus’ could be recognized as the third phalange of the thumb).
However, the number of palmar triradii varies with the presence of palmar ‘loops’ (or: palmar ‘whorls’). Usually the link between the number of fingers (D = digits), palmar triradii (T) and palmar loops (L) can be described with the following formula, which is known as the ‘Penrose topological formula‘ (Lionel Penrose, 1965):

Picture: example of the most common patterns in the dermatoglypics of the palm and fingers.

[NOTICE: The picture below includes a small mistake: the hand palm usually has 1 single palmar ‘loop’ featured with 5 palmar triradii – this implicate that ‘c-line’ (which starts in the triradius below the ring finger) should have ended between the pinky finger and the end of the heart line – and not between the ring finger and middle finger as indicated by the picture]